JOURNAL - GEORGE BISHOP

Election Day Blood Moon Eclipse

January 12, 2023November 8, 2022

Tuesday, November 7, a total lunar eclipse will be visible in North America, Central America, Colombia, and western Venezuela and Peru. It’ll begin just before sunrise and will last about an hour and a half.

From the NPR article below:

The phenomenon causes the moon to appear red, often nicknamed a “blood moon.” During a lunar eclipse, what little sunlight that’s left passes through Earth’s atmosphere to get to the moon. The more cloudy or dusty the atmosphere is, the redder the moon looks.

“It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon,” NASA said.

A total lunar eclipse is happening Tuesday — and it won’t happen again for 3 years

NPR

Nov. 7, 2022

Ayana Archie

A total lunar eclipse is happening Tuesday, and it might be a good time to catch a peek, because the next one isn’t for three years.

The initial phase of the eclipse begins at 3:02 a.m. ET, according to NASA. The partial eclipse then begins at 4:09 a.m. ET, when to the naked eye, it looks like a bite is being taken out of the moon. The lunar disk enters totality at 5:17 a.m. ET and will last for about an hour and a half.

People in North America, Central America, Colombia, and western Venezuela and Peru will be able to see the eclipse in totality. Those in Alaska and Hawaii will be able to see all stages of the eclipse.

For the best view, it is best to be in a dark area with little light pollution.

A lunar eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon align. During a full lunar eclipse, the moon falls completely in the Earth’s shadow.

“It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon,” NASA said.

The next full lunar eclipse will occur on March 14, 2025, but there will be partial lunar eclipses before then, according to NASA.

Orionid Meteor Shower This Weekend, Oct 21 – 23

January 12, 2023October 21, 2022

Don’t be alarmed if you see balls of fire in the sky this weekend.

“The Orionid meteor shower is active from Sept. 26 to Nov. 22, with a peak during the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 21. NASA says this shower is considered “one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year,” known for bright, fast shooting stars that leave long trails glowing in their wake.”

More here and below. Enjoy.

Stunning meteor shower from Halley’s Comet to light up night skies

The Orionid meteor shower is active from Sept. 26 to Nov. 22, with a peak during the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 21. NASA says this shower is considered “one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year,” known for bright, fast shooting stars that leave long trails glowing in their wake.

Fast meteors like the Orionids can sometimes even leave “fireballs,” or longer explosions of light.

Read on to learn about the shower and how to watch it.

What are the Orionids?

This meteor shower is caused by space debris from what could be the best-known comet ever: Halley’s Comet, which takes 76 years to orbit the Sun just once. It hasn’t been seen by casual Earth stargazers since 1986. NASA says it’ll return in 2061, if you want to add that to your calendar.

The comet is named for English astronomer Edmond Halley, who correctly predicted its return.

Halley’s Comet sheds streams of ice and dust every time it circles back through the inner solar system, leading to two different yearly meteor showers.

“The Eta Aquarids are the outbound particles of Halley’s comet and the Orionids are the inbound,” American Meteor Society editor Robert Lunsford said, adding that both showers have a nearly two-month active period. “Halley’s Comet has been through the inner solar system so many times, a lot of the particles have spread out.”

Estimates for how many meteors you could see per hour vary, with NASA predicting 15 and AMS estimating 10 to 20. Due to the long active period for the Orionids, those peak rates are expected to last longer than for other showers.

“That’s what’s different about this long period shower — it has a plateau-like maximum,” Lunsford said. “So if you miss the night of maximum activity, the night after and even a couple of nights after that is well worth watching.”

The Orionids meteor shower has a history of surprising its viewers. AMS says in 2006 to 2009, the shower’s peak rates rivaled that of the stunning Perseids, which can average 50 to 75 meteors per hour.

How to watch the meteor shower this week

The Orionids will peak in the early morning hours between Thursday and Friday.

NASA recommends watching in the hours between midnight and dawn, well away from city lights if possible. A lawn chair or sleeping bag will help you stay cozy as your eyes adapt to the darkness — this takes about 30 minutes. As experienced stargazers know, some patience will come in handy.

“Watch for at least an hour… Because there’s peaks and valleys of activity, a in all meteor showers,” Lunsford said. “You could be out there at the wrong time and see nothing. And then during the next five or 10 minute period, you’ll see all kinds of activity.”

Harvest Moon This Weekend, Sept 9 – 11

January 12, 2023September 10, 2022

Harvest Moon this weekend. Look up if you’re out.

Buck Supermoon this Wednesday, July 13

January 12, 2023July 12, 2022

This Wednesday the moon will be at its closest point to the Earth for the year–the “Buck Supermoon.” More info below from Space.com.

Don’t Miss the Biggest ‘Supermoon’ of the Year on July 13

On Wednesday (July 13), the moon will arrive at its closest point to the Earth for 2022.

A supermoon in the dusk sky. (Image credit: Getty)

On Wednesday (July 13) at 5 a.m. EDT (09:00 GMT), the moon will arrive at its closest point to the Earth for 2022: a perigee distance of 221,994 miles (357,264 kilometers) away.

Nine hours and 38 minutes later, the moon will officially turn full. Though full moon theoretically lasts just a moment, that moment is imperceptible to ordinary observation, and for a day or so before and after most will speak of seeing the nearly full moon as “full”: The shaded strip is so narrow, and changing in apparent width so slowly, that it is hard for the naked eye to tell whether it’s present or which side it is on.

So, when the moon shines down on your neighborhood on Wednesday night, keep this in mind: What you’re looking at is not precisely a full moon, but a waning gibbous moon, already many hours past its stage of full illumination. . . .

JACKSON: New Novel

January 12, 2023June 4, 2022

I’m happy to announce that I’ve signed with super agent Lisa Bankoff to represent my new novel, JACKSON. This has been a long time in coming so, yeah, I’m pleased. I’ll post any updates here. Meantime, here’s the pitch, in case you’re curious:

JACKSON takes its title from the small town of Jackson, Louisiana. The town’s best known as the site of the state’s first public mental hospital, and it was there, as the son of a psychiatrist, that I grew up, living and roaming on the grounds of the old asylum, hearing the screams of the patients at night. That unusual childhood experience provided the inspiration for this story.

JACKSON is a modern-day Frankenstein tale set against the backdrop of shocking, real-life brain implant experiments conducted on patients in Louisiana public mental hospitals in the 1960s. Told from the shifting points of view of Dr. Eugene Grant, a newly trained psychiatrist, and his young wife, Callie, the novel follows the couple and their son as they settle into a home on the grounds of Louisiana State Hospital, an immense, antiquated asylum in a remote corner of the state. Eugene, in thrall to the charismatic director of the hospital, is drawn deeper and deeper into the bizarre and bloody experiments they perform on their patients. At the same time, Callie grows increasingly suspicious of her husband’s work until, in a harrowing climax, she becomes a patient herself.

With shades of Southern Gothic, JACKSON also looks forward to contemporary issues of racism, sexism, and society’s treatment of its most vulnerable citizens, all the while grappling with the larger question of what it means to be sane in an insane world.

Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse this Weekend!

January 12, 2023May 13, 2022

This weekend you can catch a rare “Super Blood Moon” or “Super Flower Blood Moon” total lunar eclipse across all the US. More info below, but here are the best viewing times. It’ll happen right around midnight on Sunday, EDT.

Specific Times of Total Lunar Eclipse (EDT)

Partial eclipse begins at 10:27 PM May 15
Totality begins at 11:29 PM EDT
Totality ends at 12:54 a.m. EDT
Partial eclipse ends at 1:55 AM EDT (May 16)

‘Super Flower Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse is Coming Sunday Night. Here’s What You Need to Know.

USA TODAY

Get ready for a sky spectacle this weekend.

A “super flower blood moon” lunar eclipse will be coming to the night sky on Sunday. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the full moon and the sun.

During the eclipse, the moon will receive only sunlight bent through the Earth’s atmosphere, and will change color over the minutes, from gray to pink to orange to red.

The Earth’s shadow covers the moon, which often has a red color, hence the blood moon nickname. Although it’s completely in the shadow of Earth, a bit of reddish sunlight still reaches the moon.

The eclipse will begin when the Earth’s shadow appears on the moon at 10:27 p.m. EDT Sunday evening. Over the course of an hour, the shadow will creep across the moon, plunging the lunar surface into darkness.

Totality, or when the moon is entirely in the Earth’s shadow, will occur from 11:29 p.m. May 15 to 12:53 a.m. May 16.

You don’t need special glasses or gizmos to view the spectacle, unlike a solar eclipse, so feel free to stare directly at the moon. Binoculars or a telescope will improve the view.

The eclipse will be visible in total phase from portions of the Americas, Antarctica, Europe, Africa and the east Pacific, according to Space.com,

This will be the first of two lunar eclipses in 2022, Space.com said. The next one will occur Nov. 8.

What is a supermoon?

A supermoon means the moon looks a bit bigger than usual since it’s a bit closer to the Earth.

“Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit,” according to NASA.

On average, supermoons appear about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full moon.

It’s also the ‘flower’ moon

Sunday’s sky show is also the “flower” moon, a name given to May’s full moon because “flowers spring forth across North America in abundance this month,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac said.

The full moon names used by the almanac come from a number of places, including Native American, Colonial American and European sources. Traditionally, each full moon name was applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred, not solely to the full moon.

Other names for May’s full moon include the corn planting moon and the milk moon, NASA said.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS FESTIVAL 2022 – Live this Weekend in New Orleans

January 12, 2023March 26, 2022

I’m looking forward to participating in the Tennessee Williams Festival again this weekend at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans.

Sunday morning, March 26, I’ll be speaking with writers Mahyar Amouzegar, Tom Cooper, Louis Edwards, and Roy Hoffman about “Character and Setting.”

It’s an all-male panel, so you can bet there’ll be lots of drinking and cussing. Come join us if you’re in town. More info below and in link. Get your Tennessee on.

https://tennesseewilliams.net/

OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO: CONNECTING CHARACTER AND SETTING

Sunday, March 27, 11:30 AM—12:45 PM—Literary Discussion

Placing a character in a particular setting opens up so many narrative choices—how the characters engage with that landscape, how to authentically create life in a specific place. Sometimes the setting itself becomes a character. These writers have set their work in places as diverse as Florida and Syria during wartime, and they will discuss powerful relationships between people and places. Panelists include Tom Cooper, Louis Edwards, Roy Hoffman, and Mahyar Amouzegar. Moderator: George Bishop, Jr.

Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass or VIP Pass

Worm Moon Tonight!

January 12, 2023March 17, 2022

From CNN:

One of the brightest heralds of spring makes its appearance this week.

The March full moon, known as the worm moon, will be at its peak at 3:18 a.m. ET on Friday, March 18, according to NASA. It will appear full through Saturday morning.

(See more below for, er, how it got its name.)

This moon will appear larger to viewers because of the “moon illusion,” according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. This occurs when the moon is near the horizon and our eyes compare the moon’s size to trees, buildings or other earthly objects. By comparing these reference points to the moon, our brain tricks us into thinking the moon is bigger.

Southern Native American tribes named the worm moon after the earthworm casts — essentially feces — that emerged as the ground thawed at winter’s end, according to NASA.

The Comet Book (1587)

January 12, 2023March 3, 2022

THE COMET BOOK (1587)

(Images and text from THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW.)

“This stunning set of images come from a 16th-century treatise on comets, created anonymously in Flanders (now northern France) and now held at the Universitätsbibliothek Kassel. Commonly known as The Comet Book (or Kometenbuch in German), its full title translates as “Comets and their General and Particular Meanings, According to Ptolomeé, Albumasar, Haly, Aliquind and other Astrologers.””